It's Complicated
by luverofjamesandlily
Summary: Darry meets and likes Jennifer. Only problem is she's a Soc. Read and discover how they meet and travel through their relationship!
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own **_**The Outsiders**_**; just love it very, very much! The only people I own are Jennifer, Anthony, and Becca. Enjoy and review, please! ****For the purpose of my story, I am still going to have the same events happen, except that they happened a little sooner, so Darry is just a year out of high school. **

**OC's POV **

I stood in line, waiting to check out the few items I had. I refrained from rolling my eyes at Anthony, the guy beside me. He was terribly annoying, but I didn't want to be rude. I caught the eye of another guy who stood behind Anthony. He seemed to smile slightly at the look I was giving Anthony. I felt like I recognized him from somewhere, but I couldn't quite place him. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a simple black t-shirt. I smiled back hesitantly, and watched him roll his eyes at something Anthony had said. I honestly had stopped listening to him.

"And that, Jennifer, is how I beat the greaser." He finished proudly.

I was still watching the mysterious guy's face. It tightened briefly at the word "greaser".

"And why is that good? Fighting is awful!"I winced at my harsh tone, but I was so sick of how he talked constantly about how much better he was than greasers.

His eyes widened. "But they deserve what they get."

"Why?" I asked simply.

"Because- well…" I had stumped him.

"Please stop talking about them like that." I ordered.

"I… well… have to go." He said in a rush and almost ran out of the store. I let out a sigh of relief.

The guy behind me silently moved up to take Anthony's abandoned spot.

"Hi." I said to him, watching his reaction. Surprise flitted across his face, and then disappeared as he composed himself.

"Hello." He responded.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" I asked, the curiosity forcing the question from me.

"I think so, from school?" He asked.

It made sense then. His name was something that started with a "D". But I think he was also, as Anthony had put it, a greaser. I hated to use the term, even though by standards I was a Soc.

"Yes. I'm Jennifer." I added, in case he didn't remember.

"Darry." He replied, extending his hand. I knew it started with a "D"! And now I recognized him, he had been a year older than me at school. Real popular guy.

"Do you know him well?" He asked.

"Not too well, thank goodness! He's been following me around lately, trying to impress me." I blushed; I always seemed to talk too much around attractive guys. And this guy was attractive! With his muscled body and sharp eyes, he was extremely good-looking. He seemed amused by my chattering.

"That's too bad. But maybe you scared him off with your little speech about greasers." He suggested.

"Hopefully." I murmured.

I quickly had my few items rung up and paid. I leaned a hip against the counter and waited for Darry to finish. While I had bought a few somewhat frivolous items, Darry had the basics. Some bread, eggs, butter, things like that, and then chocolate. It seemed a bit odd compared to the other necessary things he had. Hadn't I heard something about his family? I frowned, trying to remember. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew something had happened. As he turned to pay, he caught sight of me and looked slightly taken aback.

"I'd thought you left." He said, explaining his expression.

"I thought I'd wait for you, in case Anthony is out there." I added the last part in case he thought I was being a bit forward.

He relaxed and gave me a confused smile. Probably he couldn't figure out why I was being nice to him, me being a Soc and everything.

We walked out together. Thankfully Anthony wasn't anywhere to be seen. I didn't live to far from here, so I had walked. It seemed he had also, because he walked with me, towards the end of the street without any cars.

"Well, it was nice talking to you." He said when it looked like we had to separate paths.

"It was. Maybe I'll see you around?" I asked tentatively.

"That'd be nice." He responded, smiling a little. "Maybe we'll both need food next week same time?"

"Maybe." I agreed. We walked away from each other. As soon as I was out of his sight I smiled even bigger and sighed happily. It's not every day you meet a nice, handsome guy.

**Darry's POV **

I couldn't believe it. Jennifer seemed like a real nice girl, a Soc who seemed interested in me. I continued walking home; already thinking about the next week's meeting. She was really pretty too, with her blonde hair and green eyes. I was whistling as I walked in the house.

"Why are you so happy?" Soda asked, questioningly.

"No reason." I replied, still smiling.

"A girl?" He persisted.

"Now, why couldn't I just be happy?" I avoided the question.

"Because you're Darry, you need a reason to be happy." He said in exasperation, as if pointing out the obvious.

"Well, yes, you nosy kid. It is a girl." I called out to him as I walked into the kitchen to put the food away.

He got up to follow me, and question me some more, I suppose.

"What's she like? What's her name? Is she pretty?" He fired questions at me.

"She seems nice, Jennifer, and yes, she is." I tried to answer them all in order.

"Jennifer… Did she go to school with you?" He asked, recognizing her right away.

"Yeah, she's a year younger."

"Pony! Darry's got himself a girl!" He called through the house.

I heard something crash, Pony probably tripped to get out of his room.

"Really? Who?" He asked as he entered the room.

"Jennifer. She goes to school with you. She's a senior." Soda answered.

"She's real pretty, Darry." Ponyboy commented.

"Will you two be quiet? I don't got a girl. I just talked to her today." I think I blushed some, so I turned to the cupboard to finish putting away the food.

"Getting defensive, I think we're right, Pony." Soda grinned at me.

"Go away. Don't you have to work or something?" I asked, annoyed.

"I just got home a little before you did. I'm done for the day."

"Great." I mumbled.

Pony and Soda smirked at me broadly before turning away to watch some TV.

After I finished in the kitchen, I went and sat with them on the couch. I pushed Soda to one side, and sat between them.

"Hey, watch it." Soda said crossly, as he readjusted his position.

"Sorry, Soda." I grinned at him until he rolled his eyes and looked back at the TV.

"We shoulda got you a girl a long time ago, if this is how happy you're gonna be." Pony said under his breath.

I threw a pillow at him, and since he wasn't expecting it, it hit him right in the face. He picked the pillow up and looked at me indignantly. I smirked at him, and his indignant look turned to one of shock, then to one of deviousness.

He threw the pillow back at me as hard as he could, which I still managed to catch. I threw it at Soda, and an all-out pillow war ensued. I'm not sure how long we fought, but I had to stop it when the pillows almost busted open. We couldn't waste money on new pillows.

We all collapsed onto the couch again, out of breath from laughing.

"Seriously, Darry. This girl has got you happy!" Soda exclaimed.

I thought about that for a minute. It wasn't just Jennifer, but talking to her made me feel like an average guy just out of high school. Not a guy trying to raise his two kid brothers, while fighting to earn a living. I didn't feel the need to explain this to them, they would just feel guilty. So I shrugged and got up to make dinner.

And of course dinner wasn't complete without some of the guys over, so by the time dinner was ready Two-Bit and Steve both had joined us. I ignored the stage-whispers of Soda explaining that I got a girl.

"Congrats Darry. Finally actin' like a real guy. We were wondering if you were ever gonna find a girl." Two-Bit said, trying to get a laugh.

"Real funny, Two-Bit. Just cracking me up." I rolled my eyes.

"I know. It must be so hard for you guys to be around me when I'm just so amazing at everything." He proclaimed.

"Oh yeah, we can't hardly deal with it." Soda smirked.

After that the guys toned the mocking down a bit, focusing on Steve with Evie. I think they broke up again, I wasn't really paying attention. After that I made sure Pony's homework was done and then decided to call it a night.

**Jennifer's POV**

I got home and was so happy! I finally found a decent guy who wasn't some jerky Soc or some scumbag hood. A nice medium. My parents didn't notice anything was off, not that they would notice if I jumped up and down screaming it to them. But that's beside the point. My older sister Becca did, however.

"Why are you so smiley?" She asked, smiling herself.

"No reason, really." I said, not fooling anyone, including myself.

"I think I'm hearing future conversations about a boy!" She exclaimed.

I wasn't sure how much to tell her. She wasn't terribly prejudiced like most Socs, but she didn't exactly like greasers.

"Do you remember Darry Curtis?" I asked hesitantly.

She paused, thinking. "Yes! That cute one who played football?" She snapped her finger when she figured it out.

"Yeah, well, I kinda ran into him today at the store and we hit off pretty well. We sorta made plans to meet back there next week." I said in a rush.

"Wait, wasn't he a greaser?" She asked softly.

"Yes." I stuck my chin out defiantly, daring her to say something.

"That's nice. He was a real nice kid. A year younger than me, right?" She asked sweetly. She knew exactly how far I could be pushed before putting up a fight. Plus, she knew my strong feelings about the great Social Divide, as I liked to call it.

"Yep. I bought some stuff to make cookies. You wanna help me?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Sure." She agreed, smiling at me.

The rest of the evening went by fast with baking the cookies. I decided to go to bed early and called good night to everyone.

**Thanks for reading everyone! I hoped you liked it, and please tell me how to improve! I'm not sure if I captured everyone quite right, so please give me feedback! **

**Love,**

**Allie**


	2. Chapter 2

**I was trying to update my other story, but I couldn't really think of anything, so I decided to write for this one! Hope you like it!**

**Jennifer's POV**

My week was pretty uneventful. I think I was focusing on meeting Darry at the store on Saturday. But no matter how distracted I was, my "friends" never noticed a thing was off. I suppose they just saw what they wanted too.

I practically skipped out the door, calling out a vague answer of "going to the store" to Becca when she wanted to know where I was going. When I got there, there was no sign of Darry, so I wandered around the store. I know I looked left out, but the owner didn't say anything. He probably didn't think I was the type to steal things. He's right, but still. If it was Darry walking around, he would have been thrown out. It makes me so angry!

I was concentrating so hard on the injustice of life; I jumped when a hand caught my elbow as I walked past. It was Darry.

"Hi." I said breathlessly.

"Hey. What were you thinking about just now? You looked pretty mad." Darry commented.

I blushed and said," Nothing." He raised his eyebrow at that but didn't say anything.

I took it that he didn't need any groceries when he nodded towards the door, as if asking if we could leave. I nodded and he held the door open for me.

We walked in silence for a few minutes.

"So, Darry." I started. He looked at me expectantly. "How have you been?" I asked, at a loss for what to say.

He smiled slightly and said," Pretty good. How 'bout you?"

"I'm good." I answered lightly.

We talked about some random things, like siblings. I told him about Becca and I learned that besides Sodapop, he had another little brother named Ponyboy. Everyone knew Sodapop, but I hadn't known about Pony, let alone that he went to my school.

"What about your parents?" I asked, since we were already on the topic of family.

He looked down at his feet before answering. "My parents died in a car crash a couple years back." My mouth hung open; I didn't know what to say. Suddenly the article in the paper came rushing back to me. It was so sad; they had died while driving back home, and now he had to take care of Sodapop and Ponyboy.

"Darry, I'm so sorry." I didn't know what else to add so I just stayed quiet.

"It's okay, it's just… I miss them." He said in a strained voice.

"I know." We stopped walking and just stood there, somewhat awkwardly.

He flinched and said," I'm sorry. I usually don't tell people about things like that right away."

I smiled, trying to keep it light. "Hey, it's ok. I'm all ears." He laughed and we continued walking.

We talked some more, but we talked about anything but family. I think he was embarrassed that he had to take care of his brothers. Which I didn't understand at all, I thought it was amazing he didn't stick them in some boys home until he finished college.

We turned a corner and I froze. It was Anthony with a few of his obnoxious friends. I turned around to go back without him seeing us, but no luck.

"Jennifer!" He called out. I kept on walking, and dragged Darry by his hand.

I kept up my fast pace until we were about two and half blocks away and I felt safe enough to slow down.

"You ok?" I could hear the smirk in his voice.

"I just don't… want to deal with him right now." I looked behind me and breathed a sigh of relief when there was no sign of Anthony.

"Understandable. He didn't seem very nice." He agreed.

I looked down and realized I was still gripping his wrist. I let go and blushed. I really hated my fair skin. He smiled at me, which he seemed to be doing a lot.

We walked back to the store, talking about anything and everything. I couldn't believe how easy it was to talk with him. I only ever talked this well with Becca. We got to the store and reached a slightly uncomfortable pause.

"I guess I'll see you around?" I asked, hoping he would agree.

"Yeah. Maybe we could hang out next time, like go for the Nightly Double or something." He said, looking a bit nervous.

"That'd be nice." I smiled up at him. I got the feeling he didn't want me to see his house, and I didn't want him anywhere near my parents. They would freak out. I didn't want to deal with that yet.

"Do you want to meet here… I don't know, Thursday and we could go see it?" He asked.

"That would work." I thought out loud, making sure I wasn't busy.

"Cool, I'll see you here around seven then." He grinned and walked away. I watched him until he turned the corner and then I set off on my way home.

As soon as I walked in the door I felt ambushed.

"Jen!" Becca called, running to the front door.

"Hi." I said slowly, confused.

"How was your date?" She asked teasingly. I looked around quickly, making sure my parents hadn't heard. If they did, they would want to know who it was and all that stuff.

I grabbed Becca by the arm and dragged her to my bedroom.

"Don't talk so loud. I don't want them to hear!" I hissed as I closed my door and locked it.

"Calm down, they're in the dining room with some of their friends." She reassured me.

"Ok." I smiled as her expression became annoyed.

"So, how was it?" She asked impatiently.

"It was fun; he's so easy to talk to Becca!" I exclaimed.

"I'm glad Jenny. But when are you going to tell Mom and Dad?" She asked hesitantly.

"Well, at the moment, there isn't anything to tell. I'm just going out with a friend. But he asked me to the Nightly Double on Thursday." I told her.

She smiled at me and I knew she was okay with it.

"I'm glad you like him." She said in reply.

"Me too." I whispered, almost to myself.

**Darry's POV**

I got home and was instantly mobbed by multiple people.

"Darry! How was your date?" Soda asked.

"Hey, Darry? Can you come help me with this math problem?" This was Ponyboy.

"Superman, can I crash here tonight?" Steve asked.

"Good, yes, and yes." I said distractedly. Just like that I was thrown back into my parenting role. I didn't mind, exactly. It's just I felt my age around Jennifer, and then I came back to this.

I helped Pony with his homework and made dinner for everybody. I already couldn't wait for Thursday.

**Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it, and I will try to have the next chapter up soon, with the date! Review please!**

**Allie**


	3. Chapter 3

**I am so sorry it took me so long to update! I started some new medicine, and it made me feel absolutely awful for a couple days, and I couldn't write anything! Sorry again! I own nothing except Jennifer, Becca, and Anthony!**

I groaned; nobody had bothered to do the laundry lately. I had been picking up a few extra shifts wherever I could, leaving me almost no time to pick the house up, let alone do laundry. That left me with almost nothing to wear to the Nightly Double tonight, with Jennifer.

"Soda?" I called.

There was a pause in the noise from the living room, then, "Yeah?"

"You gotta shirt I could borrow?" I hated asking, especially while Steve was over. It would only lead to more mocking, but I didn't have too much of a choice.

"Sure." He replied, his voice got louder as he walked towards his room.

"I got this blue one or a red one. Take your pick." He told me as he dumped them on my bed; I assume he wanted to get back to his poker game.

"Thanks." I said as I tried to decide which one to wear. As I stood there, I realized how stupid I was being. It was only the first date, if you could even call this a date. I closed my eyes and pointed my finger around a few times before opening my eyes. It landed by the blue shirt. I shrugged; guess that's what I'm wearing. I looked at my watch and finished getting ready; it was almost time to meet Jennifer.

"Alright, I won't be out too late. Pony, I want you to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Soda, don't stay up too late, you have work in the morning. Steve…" I paused. "I don't really care what you do." I smiled at that. He rolled his eyes at me and went back to the poker game.

Pony barely looked up from the book he was reading, giving me a vague "Uh humpf," Which I took as an agreement.

"Bye, guys." I yelled as I shut the door behind me.

"Bye." I heard from behind the door. I smiled and walked to the store.

I sighed as I shut the door behind me. Becca had been extremely persistent in trying to make me look "presentable" for my date. I barely made it out of the house with enough time to walk over to the store.

I hoped it wasn't too awkward. I had been on a number of first dates that ended badly because we couldn't find anything to talk about, or some other stupid reasons.

I walked to the store and saw Darry right away. He was talking with a guy who looked around my age. I strolled over to them and waited for Darry to see me.

"Hey, Jennifer." He said when he spotted me. "This is a buddy of mine, Two-Bit."

Two-Bit, how could I have forgotten Two-Bit?

"Hi, Jenny." I made a face at the nickname, but didn't say anything. I much preferred Jen to Jenny.

"Hello. How come you weren't in science yesterday?" That was the only class we had together, and it was defiantly the funniest.

"Didn't feel like going." He said casually. I nodded, that made perfect sense.

"Well, we're gonna go." Darry said, looking at me.

"Have fun, you two love-birds." Two-Bit called after us as we walked away.

I felt myself turn red and I snuck a look at Darry. He grimaced, but didn't say anything back to him.

We got to the movie and sat down. About fifteen minutes into the movie, Darry turned to me and asked, "You wanna go get some popcorn or something?" I don't think he liked the movie very much, because he all but jumped out of his seat when I agreed. We walked over to buy some popcorn. I had brought some money because I liked being prepared, but there was no need for it. Darry paid.

We mostly talked during the rest of the movie, getting half-heartedly shushed now and then. The movie wasn't very interesting, just a bunch of girls in skimpy outfits surrounding a guy. Not exactly my type of movie, but I had a nice time.

It was around eleven when Darry looked at his watch and said, "I should probably get home. I promised Soda I wouldn't be out too late."

I nodded and stood up. When we got to the store, I said, "I had a really nice time. Thank you."

"I had a nice time too. But I can walk you home." He said.

"Oh, it's fine." I protested.

"Jennifer, I'm not going to let you walk home by yourself at night." He told me, with no room for argument in his tone.

"Okay." I said.

I lead him down the streets till we got to my house. He stared up at it, I couldn't tell if he was impressed or what.

"Thanks for tonight. I'll see you around?" I asked.

"Yep. I'll see you later." He said as he made sure I got in the house.

I closed the door after waving goodbye and jumped as Becca ran to meet me.

"How was it?" She asked me, breathless from running to here from her bedroom.

"It was good. I didn't really feel like a date. It mostly felt like I was hanging out with a friend, it was that comfortable." I said, reflecting on the night.

"That's good, right?" Becca asked.

"I think so." I said, grinning in spite of myself.

I made sure Jennifer got in her house before walking away. Her house was extremely big. I knew she was a Soc, but I had forgotten how well-off Socs are. I thought the night went well. The movie was dumb, but the talking had been nice. It was a good change from Soda or Two-Bit.

I listened as I opened the door. I could hear Soda cursing at Steve, probably still playing poker. I couldn't tell if Pony was still up, so I walked in.

"I'm back." I called.

"Hi Dar." Soda said, concentrating on his game. Pony was still on the couch, reading.

"Pone, why don't you go to bed?" I suggested.

"Sure, one minute." He responded, not looking up.

I rolled my eyes. "How was your date?" Steve snickered as he asked.

"It was nice." I answered him.

"I'm going to bed. Pony, I want you in your bed in ten minutes, got it? And Soda, go to sleep soon, you got work early. Steve, you can sleep here if you need." I addressed everyone, one-by-one.

I received a yes from Ponyboy and Soda, and Steve said he was going home today.

"Ok, see you guys tomorrow." I said as I left the room. I normally would have waited for Pony to go to bed, but I was tired and I had work tomorrow. I slept pretty well and went to work reluctantly. It's a wonder I didn't fall off a roof, I was pretty distracted my whole shift. But I made it, and left as soon as I was done.

I arrived home to an empty house, which was unusual. Even is Soda and Pony weren't home, Two-Bit or Steve might be over. I decided to enjoy it and sat on the couch watching T.V for a while. I must have dozed off, because all of a sudden there was the bang of the front door and I jerked awake.

"Hi, Darry." Ponyboy said as he walked in.

"Hey, Pony. How was track?" I asked, yawning.

"Good, school was boring, and I'm going to do my homework right now." He finished, answering my next two questions as well.

"Okay, have fun. Yell if you need any help."

I glanced at my watch and figured I should start some dinner. Keeping it simple, I chose to make spaghetti and meatballs. Right when I finished Soda came into the kitchen and said hi, putting his work shirt on the chair and kicking off his shoes.

"Hang that up; I'm not washing it till it's actually dirty." I said without looking up.

He sighed, but left and came back a little later with Ponyboy. We ate and I had them clean up the dishes.

"How was work, Soda?" I asked absentmindedly.

"It was okay, pretty slow today." He replied, flipping through the channels on the T.V.

The rest of the night was pretty low-key. Pony finished his homework and Soda and I watched T.V. It was a nice night.

**Thanks for reading, and please review! Reviews mean the world to me!**

**Love,**

**Allie**


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